Chapter Thirteen
Gabi
The Lit Lounge was laid out and ready for Story Stars.
A long wooden table bulged with crisps, biscuits, vegetables and hummus at one end, and an array of wine glasses and bottles at the other.
The walls were adorned with children’s drawings of Easter eggs and bright yellow chicks, and the place was packed with people on Easter holidays looking for entertainment.
Wren was on the door, checking tickets and greeting people.
Rosie was organising tiny children’s wooden chairs in a semi-circle, leaving a good amount of space at the front for Gabi’s leg on the carpet when she sat in the reading chair.
The resident bookshop cats were draped over shelves, curled up in reading corners or stretched out in the window.
Gabi was strangely nervous. This was right out of her comfort zone.
Tell her to swing on a trapeze thirty feet above the ground?
Fine. Jump from a second-floor window as though catapulted by an explosion inside?
No problem. Face a group of chattering children and read them a book?
Terrifying. But she was determined to think of it as a new stunt to be conquered. She was ready for it.
‘Got your book ready?’ Rosie asked, appearing beside her.
Gabi swallowed and waved the book in her hand.
Rosie squeezed her shoulder and turned to help a family find what they were looking for.
Children seemed to be everywhere. More than Gabi had ever seen in one place at one time before.
On chairs and under them, behind curtains, running around bookshelves, rolling on the mat. The excitement levels were deafening.
She’d never had the maternal urge. Hardly surprising, given the family example she’d been set by her mamma and papà.
But she had thought that desire to have a baby might kick in as she worked her way through her twenties and turned thirty.
That biological clock she heard people talk about.
But her feelings hadn’t changed. And as she observed the chaos in the bookshop around her, she wasn’t unhappy about that.
Looking at the book in her hands, she wracked her brains to see if she could remember books being a part of her life when she was a child.
Had her mamma read to her in bed? Had her papà ever taken her to the bookshop and let her choose a new book?
She snorted. The woman next to her jumped and she waved apologetically and pretended to blow her nose.
The only thing she could remember her mother buying her was a video recorder, so that Gabriella could watch more action movies and stay out of her way.
And as for her papà? The biggest thing he’d ever bought her was a one-way ticket to stay with her zio, zia and Isabella.
She sighed. These children were already winning at life, she decided. They had someone who cared about them enough to bring them to a bookshop.
‘Ready for action?’ Fox said, strolling towards her, wearing his signature checked shirt and a twinkling smile.
‘As I’ll ever be . . .’ Gabi said. ‘Although I’m not really sure what I’ve let myself in for.’
Fox slung an arm around her shoulder and she leaned against him momentarily. ‘Nothing a daring stuntwoman can’t handle,’ he joked and she nudged him in the ribs.
‘Can I shout cut at the end?’ Alex grinned, appearing beside him, guitar on his back.
‘Don’t worry, they don’t bite,’ said Etienne, bringing up the rear.
‘Ha ha.’ Gabi grimaced.
‘Actually, that’s not strictly true . . .’ said Fox. ‘Little Tommy Malone bit my leg when I was reading. Luckily, he only had baby teeth, so it didn’t really hurt.’
Gabi spluttered.
‘You’ll be all right, though.’ Fox nodded at her boot. ‘He can’t get to yours.’
‘What am I doing?’ Gabi groaned, banging the book on her forehead.
Isabella and Amber joined the group, both with large glasses of white wine in their hands. Isabella lowered the book from Gabi’s face to kiss her, and Gabi smelled the lemon scent of her shampoo, felt the reassuring touch of her free hand on her arm.
Isabella smelled like family, like home, or the closest thing she had to it. Gabi had tried using that shampoo herself, but it wasn’t the same. She squeezed Isabella’s hand in return.
‘I need one of those.’ She nodded at the wine.
‘Afterwards!’ Isabella said, moving the bottle out of the way.
‘Spoilsport,’ hissed Gabi.
‘You can’t be drunk as the reader,’ Isabella chided.
‘There’s a first time for everything,’ Gabi said.
Someone moved in next to her. She turned, directly into Walker’s chest as he joined the group.
Her eyes were yet again level with his pecs.
The pecs that she knew were rock hard under that T-shirt.
She’d felt them at the fire station and eyed them at the gym when he wasn’t looking.
She forced her gaze upwards, and he was smiling down at her.
‘Looking forward to your performance,’ he said. ‘Hope they let you finish and don’t cut you off like the last guy.’
Gabi felt her mouth fall open.
‘What! They heckle too?’
He laughed.
‘I wouldn’t call it heckling. They just get bored or restless and lose their concentration.’
‘Shit, shit, shit,’ Gabi muttered with feeling.
Isabella nudged her sharply and nodded at the toddler watching them from her vantage point on her father’s shoulders. ‘Language,’ she whispered quietly. The girl had big brown eyes. She fixed them on Gabi.
‘Shit,’ the little girl said quite clearly.
Walker laughed. ‘Now look what you’ve done!’ He steered her away, tucking them into the book corner with her back to the child.
‘What are you reading?’ Walker asked. Gabi held up her book.
‘It’s about a girl who isn’t great at school, but she’s brilliant in the circus,’ she said.
‘Why did you choose that?’ he asked, flipping the pages.
Gabi’s voice dropped now with urgency. ‘To show the kids that they can do whatever they want to do. They can be whatever they want to be, they just need to be brave and give things a go.’
His mouth curled upwards, and she felt a small glow of pleasure that she’d made him smile.
He’d looked so worried the other day at the gym.
‘You’re going to be just fine,’ he said.
‘They’re going to love it.’ She didn’t have time to thank him as Rosie called for attention at the front and began her introduction.
‘Here she is, our guest reader for the night: Gabriella Tucci. The best stuntwoman in the business. She works in Hollywood and all around the world doing death-defying action shots for the movies.’
The children gasped while Isabella cheered.
‘Over to you, Gabi!’ Rosie started clapping, and the children followed on. Gabi shifted slightly in her seat and took a deep breath. Time to take to the high board and jump. She dropped her eyes to the book, and then leaned forward to bring her face to the children’s height.
‘Today’s story will make you gasp,’ she said, with a loud intake of breath which the children copied.
‘It will make you cheer!’ She raised her fists in the air and the children whooped.
‘And it might even make you scream!’ The children shrieked and several parents put their hands over their ears, while the cats all scarpered.
Grinning, Gabi opened the book and cleared her throat. She was off.